Bestseller Woods’s glittering 34th novel featuring Stone Barrington (after Hot Pursuit) finds the suave cop turned attorney helping Jose “Pepe” Perado, a Texas brewer, open a beer distributorship, and possibly a brewery, in New York City. The opposition, in the manner of 1930s gangster films, intends to “dissuade him.” So Stone, with the help of buddy Dino Bacchetti, the commissioner of police, fights back. Later, Pepe slides into the background, and the assorted bad guys offer a primer on how to rob banks, among other crimes, as the body count rises. Stone still has time for a stellar sex life, bedding any woman who crosses his path and is a) beautiful, b) wealthy, c) well connected, or d) all of the above. Over dinner at the Four Seasons, one such damsel tells Stone, “I want to go back to your house, then fuck your brains out.” Once in bed, she takes “him in her hand.” Some readers may not immediately realize him means penis. Why so coy? Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit. (July)